Forbes.com breaks down new Census data on metropolitan areas that are enjoying the fastest growth in their college-educated populations, and Cleveland does not fare well.Contrary to popular assumptions, writes demographer Joel Kotkin, education levels are rising fastest not in conventional “hip” cities such as Boston or San Francisco, but in places such as Charlotte, Columbus, San Antonio, Orlando and Nashville. “The pattern is clear: brainpower is spreading out,” Mr. Kotkin writes. “The notion that companies seeking skilled labor have to go to one of the 'hip' cities — an idea relentlessly marketed by the New York and D.C.-based press — appears greatly overstated. In reality, skilled, college-educated people are increasingly now scattered throughout the country, and often not where you'd expect them.”Factors that have driven economic outperformance by some cities over the past decade — lower home prices, better business climate, job opportunities — also attract people with bachelor's degrees, he writes.But the trend doesn't extend to all lower-cost regions.“The Sun Belt has generally gained, but some Rust Belt towns have not fared as well,” according to Mr. Kotkin. “Cleveland, for example, ranked 50th in terms of its growth of its college-educated population, Detroit 49th and Buffalo 48th. Low costs, not surprisingly, don't compensate for poor economic conditions, decayed infrastructure and bad weather.”This and thatOld habits die hard: The CEO of General Motors seems a little frustrated by the pace of change at the bailed-out automaker, but workers at the company's Lordstown plant are in his good graces.The Associated Press reports the CEO Dan Akerson told employees during a town hall-style meeting Thursday — the workers could phone into the meeting — that he's working to wipe out fiefdoms that remain in the company. "You shouldn't stand around waiting for somebody to tell you where we're going to go," Mr. Akerson said. "We've got to get this company and the culture into the 21st century."At times during the meeting, the AP notes, Mr. Akerson “appeared frustrated, but said he is streamlining the company's management to make it more focused on brands and customers.” He praised factory workers for spotting and fixing problems, singling out workers at the company's compact car plant in Lordstown."People are getting it. We're making improvements," Mr. Akerson said.

They want him gone: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce really hates Sen. Sherrod Brown.In early July, the chamber “launched ads criticizing the liberal senator for alleged anti-business votes,” The Post reports. “When that run ended, a nonprofit group affiliated with GOP operative Karl Rove hit Brown with a new slate of ads. Those were immediately followed by another set of chamber ads denouncing Brown as a 'career politician.'”The Post says the conservative groups, led by the business-friendly chamber, “have spent more than $11.5 million in a relentless anti-Brown campaign — that's more than twice as much money as Brown's actual opponent, Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel, has spent on the race.”The chamber “has vowed to spend much more, and Crossroads GPS, the Rove-affiliated group, already has reserved an additional $6.7 million in advertising for the final five weeks of the contest,” according to the newspaper.

A bonding experience:University Hospitals is mentioned in this Wall Street Journal story noting that investors “hungry for higher yields in an environment of near-zero interest rates are clamoring for the municipal bonds issued by hospitals and other health-care facilities.”Borrowers “are capitalizing on this rising demand by dispensing with standard investor protections on their bonds,” The Journal reports. “While less protection is a pill many investors are eagerly swallowing, some are raising alarm bells and staying away from hospital bonds. This debt has long been considered risky when compared with other municipal bonds, but now the debt is even riskier, they say.”Kathy Bramlage, director at Treasury Partners, a unit of financial advisory firm HighTower Advisors, tells the newspaper, “It's a worrisome trend in my mind…but there's just such demand for yield that issuers can get away with it.”The Journal notes that UH sold $184 million in debt in May “without a reserve fund, even though it had just 118 days' cash on hand at the end of last year, below the median level for hospitals with a similar investment-grade credit rating, according to a Moody's report.” (A reserve fund was written into the 2009 bonds it refinanced in the May deal.)"If the market doesn't require that feature, it's not an advantage for us to provide it," Brad Bond, UH's vice president of treasury, tells The Journal. He says UH had "no challenge at all" selling the bonds.

Rest easy: Westlake-based TravelCenters of America is helping give its U.S. truck stops a makeover as part of an effort to combat a shortage of drivers, according to this story from Reuters.“On a blistering July afternoon, truckers at TA and Petro stops in Ohio played basketball, cooled off in a 60-seat theater showing Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in 'Sherlock Holmes' and had their blood pressure checked by nurse practitioners,” according to the news service.TravelCenters, which runs TA and Petro rest stops, and other truck stop operators “have spent millions of dollars over the last two years on jogging trails, gyms, clinics, private showers and healthier menus in a bid to enhance driver loyalty and keep the country's 3 million truckers on the road.”Trucking companies are conducting a parallel campaign, the story notes, hoping that new perks can entice more people to become drivers.One problem for the industry: “Jobs in construction paid an average of about $45,000 last year, and electrician salaries averaged $53,000, compared with about $40,000 for heavy- and tractor-trailer truck drivers, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data,” Reuters notes."Driver pay hasn't kept up with the skills, long hours and less-than-ideal living conditions," said Todd Fowler, KeyBanc Capital Markets transport analyst in Cleveland. "The current generation is going to college to work at Google and Facebook, and going to trade school to become plumbers and electricians."